Analyzing the Coupling Coordination among Economic, Social, and Environmental Benefits of Urban Infrastructure: Case Study of Four Chinese Autonomous Municipalities

Urban infrastructure is a necessary condition for urban development. Its use generates three benefits which are economic, social, and environmental benefits of urban infrastructure. They are the positive impacts on urban economy, society, and environment generated by the use of urban infrastructure, respectively. This paper evaluates the coupling coordination among these three benefits taking four Chinese autonomous municipalities as examples. These four cities have large-scale urban infrastructure but its basic function has not been fully fulfilled. Whether three benefits of urban infrastructure have been developed in harmony or not was unclear. We analyzed the coordinated development among three benefits by constructing coupling coordination degree model and studied the impacts of three benefits on their coupling coordination degree using panel regression model. The results showed that the levels of coordinated development among three benefits of urban infrastructure were low in these four cities and the impact of social benefit on their coordinated development was largest. Therefore, urban infrastructure social benefit needs to be improved mainly in these four cities.